In looking over the businesses I’ve started so far, here are the results:
First Game: In 3rd grade I was pretty hardcore into collecting baseball cards. I’d bring cards I had duplicates of to school and sell them to the other kids at about what I paid for them. Although the teacher called my mom complaining that I was taking all the other kids’ lunch money, the customers were happy and I ended up building my collection quite a bit. Overall it was a breakeven operation.
Second Game: I ran the summer concession stand at the local little league park at age 13. I did all of the merchandise selection, pricing, worked the concessionstand, etc. I had to have my mom drive me to the bulk food store to get supplies and to the park and back, but the operation was pretty successful and profitable. I managed to buy a Commodore 64 computer and a pretty good collection of the Dragonlance books I was into reading at the time. The opportunity dried up by the next summer, but it was still good while it lasted.
Third Game: A sublimation-based full-color t-shirt printing operation. After getting the equipment, setting up some designs, getting the website fully operational I realized the sublimation technology just wasn’t quite good enough to get the quality I’d need to keep customers happy. I closed down with a total loss of about $1,000.00 after selling the supplies and equipment. It would have been a MUCH larger loss if I had kept going.
Fourth Game: All Possible Worlds magazine. I’ve told the story on this one already. The overall loss was about $2,000.00. If I had kept going, the loss would have increased to about $6,000.00 before it started shrinking.
Fifth Game: Web publishing – running the various sites I’m building or have built. It’s a steady stream of income, albeit small, but it pays for the hosting costs and there’s a tiny bit extra left over. So far the magazine has eaten everything that’s come in, but with that out of the picture things are looking pretty good. It’ll probably never be anything I can live on and is more of a hobby that sustains itself, but this is still likely to make it into the win category.
Sixth Game: Shareware software applications. Since I’ve done all of the programming, web design, promotion, etc. myself, all it takes is selling one copy of one application to cover my fixed expenses. I was able to do it in 2006, have done it in 2007, and don’t anticipate having any trouble doing it in 2008. Like the web publishing, it’s a tiny trickle and unless I come up with some brilliant idea for an app, it’s also just a hobby that sustains itself. I put this in the
win category.
Conclusion:
At this point, I either need to come up with another software application that is a little less niche than what I’ve done before — something with a wider appeal and more sales potential — or come up with another business that is capable of generating much larger cash flows. One cannot live on $100 a year.
The most sensible thing would probably be to use my greatest strength (writing code) to build something that people want and need. What incredibly annoying problem is there that the world needs me to solve?
